Newsletter of the Cornell Chimesmasters and McGraw Tower

Winter 2013No. 46

Chimes Advisory Council Leads Effort to Make Chimes Program Self-SustainingMarisa LaFalce

Over the past three years, the Chimes Advisory Council has been working to improve the long-term vitality of the Cornell Chimes program by establishing the Cornell Chimes Unrestricted Program Endowment, fund #0007341. This endowment will provide support exclusively to the Cornell Chimes for essential program needs including salaries, administrative supplies, and of-fice expenses. The ultimate goal is to create an $850,000 endowment to make the program fully self-sufficient, in perpetuity.

The chimes program is currently funded through several vehicles including university alloca-tion; existing endowment; revenue from specialty concerts, CD and book sales; and annual fund support. The Marie and Emil Sibal Tower and Chimes Endowment provides financial support related to the maintenance of the building and instrument, including routine maintenance to the practice and playing stands. The Monica Novakovic Chimes Program Endowment provides sup-port for educational and outreach opportunities including travel to GCNA, chimesmaster road trips, and master classes. Most of the broad-based administrative costs incurred by the program, including chimesmaster wages, and basic program needs, is supported jointly through university allocation and annual fund support.

With budget reductions to most administrative units in recent years, the need for such an endow-ment continues to grow. In the past five years, university allocations to the chimes (as has been the case with many departments) have been reduced dramatically, forcing the program to rely more heavily each year on annual gifts to pay ongoing expenses including salaries and wages. The goal is to establish an unrestricted en-dowment to provide a stable annual funding stream while also maintaining annual fund support.

In order to reach the goal of making the Cornell Chimes self-sustaining, the Chimes Advisory Council set an initial goal of $100,000. Once that figure is reached through individual gifts and multi-year pledg-es, the chimes will receive regular payouts to support the program.

“We are thrilled that we’ve already grown the unrestricted endowment to over $90,000 through quiet networking and support,” said Scott Silverstein ‘08, Chimes Advisory Council Co-Chair. “Almost 100% of our advisory council has contributed, and we’ve also received generous gifts from additional chimesmaster alumni

Peter Im ‘13 leads a tour group up McGraw Tower. Photo by Erica Ho ‘13.

The Cornell Chimes Newsletter is published twice per year by the Cornell Chimes. Edited by Marisa LaFalce ‘96.

Please contact us with your comments and feedback or if you would like to be added to our mailing list.The Cornell Chimes:Web: www.chimes.cornell.eduEmail: chimes@cornell.eduPhone: 607-255-5350Post: B07 Day Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853

Cornell University is an equal-opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer.

and friends. As yet we’ve barely reached out to the vast net-work of Cornellians who share a fondness for the bells, so we’re excited to broaden our fundraising efforts and see where they lead.”

The Cornell Chimes is one of the premier instruments of its kind in North America. Bell experts agree that the skill and musicality with which our student chimesmasters perform is remarkable. Continued support for the Cornell Chimes through annual fund giving and endowment support will help to insure that we maintain the strength of our program.

For more information about giving to the Cornell Chimes, contact Deborah Hurley, SAS Director of External Relations, dlh242@cornell.edu, 607-255-8096 or visit http://www.chimes.cornell.edu/giving.html.

Notes from the Chimes AdvisorJennifer Lory-Moran ’96, 97

Twenty years ago this spring I made my first climb up the clock tower to find out about the annual chimes competition and what I would need to do to become a chimesmaster. I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about how things in the tower have changed during those twenty years.

When I tried out for the chimes, the basic structure of the com-petition was the same – there were four weeks of independent practice, an audition, four weeks of playing with a chimesmaster there as a coach, and a final two weeks of judged concerts with two required pieces to be played during that time. We signed up for practice time on grids taped to the glass lobby doors, just as the compets do today. We sweated away hours in the third floor practice room, reading graffiti on the walls written by the gen-erations of hopefuls who had done the same in decades past.

While all those traditions remain the same, the last twenty years have seen a number of changes as well. As a compet, when it was my time to practice or play, I needed to go into Uris Library and check out the tower key, which was attached to a block of wood. Students can now use their Cornell ID card to access the tower. Twenty years ago, if you were at the top of the tower practicing and had an urgent need to visit the bathroom, 161 steps and a trip to a nearby building were required. Now we have our own “Quasicommodo” on the 7th floor. When I tried out for the chimes, checking to see if someone had played a piece in the last three weeks required consulting grids of page numbers and concert programs to see if it was available. Now, the chimesmasters use a slew of com-puter resources as part of their regular routines – not only are the daily playsheets online, they are linked to a database that now includes scanned images of every song in the files and that tracks which songs are in your personal repertoire, which you have yet to try, and which you can play without breaking the Three-Week Rule. Timecards are completed online. Most chimesmasters write their new arrangements using computer software. Before playing a song that you are unfamiliar with,

Cornell Chimes Advisor Jennifer Lory-Moran ‘96, ‘97 gleefully plays a duet with Keith Jenkins ‘93 shortly before they were removed for tuning in the summer of 1999. Photographer unknown.

The Cornell Chimesmasters would like to thank our generous alumni and friends for supporting the program in the past year (fis-cal year July 2011-June 2012) with gifts to the chimes general fund, the new unrestricted program endowment, and to the Sibal and Novakovic Endowments. Your support is more important than ever as our university allocation continues to be reduced.

Mrs. Faith G. Hall ‘46Mr. Harold B. Hall ‘49Mr. John A. Hupcey ‘74Mr. W. Richard Johnson ‘80Ms. Carol Jordan ‘62Dr. David Jordan ‘62Mr. Wayne A. Kim ‘09Ms. Courtney M. Kimball ‘01Ms. Esther Koblenz ‘72Dr. Joshua M. Korman ‘81Mrs. Marisa P. LaFalce ‘96Mr. Thomas P. LaFalce Jr. ‘94Ms. Catherine Jordan Longley-Cook ’03, GRMr. Giles S. Longley-Cook ‘04Mr. Patrick F. Madden ‘88Dr. Michael G. Mage ‘55Rose G. Mage, PhD ‘56 Mrs. Marilyn A. MarinoMr. Robert A. MarinoCapt. Lane I. McClelland ’70, GRMs. Lisa Rose Ngai ‘05Judy S. Ogden Esq. ’71, GRMrs. Tsai-mai Ou-Lee GRMs. Deborah PassmoreMr. Steven PassmoreMr. Joe Pesaresi ‘75Mrs. Mary Baumann Pesaresi ‘75Ms. Ann E. PortMrs. Barbara RothMs. Jamie Susan Roth ‘99

Mr. Jonathan B. Roth ‘64Mr. Michael A. Roth ‘94Mr. Peter A. Roth ‘65Hon. Franklin T. Russell ’58, GRMr. Gary Lee RyanMrs. Millie Anne RyanMr. Peter RydeMr. Tim SetterMrs. Barbara F. Shively ‘57Ms. Frann Shore ‘79Mr. William J. Sibal 64David Silverstein Esq. ‘68Ms. Leslie Roth Silverstein ‘73Mr. Scott A. Silverstein ‘08Mr. Harry Simon ‘70Mr. Charles E. Swanson ‘49Mr. Anthony G. Tappin ‘49Mrs. Mary Weimar TappinMs. Claire S. Tse ‘12Dr. Leaf Turner ‘63Ms. Jennifer Turney GRDr. George A. Ubogy ‘58Mrs. Jo Ubogy Ms. Concordia Van Hoesel ’93, GRMr. Jay WeissMs. Karen Weinreich Weiss ‘89Dr. George R. Wiggans ‘68Mrs. Elizabeth J. Wiggans ‘69Mr. Daniel R. Zlatin GR

Mrs. Elizabeth F. Allen ‘45David I. Becker Esq. GRDr. Michael Berkwits ‘86Ms. Kathryn Kraus Bolks ‘91Dr. Sean M. Bolks ‘90Ms. Kristin Overgaard Bond ‘85Mr. Robert D. BondDr. Nancy G. Brown ’85, GRMr. Timothy B. Brown ’84, GRDr. Joseph M. Conte ‘82Mr. David Walter Corson ‘65Mrs. Carolyn W. Corson ‘65Mr. William D. Crowell ‘75Ms. Crystal Cun ‘07Mr. Robert L. Feldman ’66, GRMrs. Susan Goodman Feldman ‘67Ms. Maura M. Flatley GRMr. D. Wayne Fleming ‘45Mrs. Maralyn Winsor Fleming ‘45Dr. Robert H. Frankenfeld ‘45Mr. Jeff GirouxMrs. Lisa GirouxMr. Kevin S. Giroux ‘12Mr. Richard A. Glassco ‘76Mrs. Barbara J. Gottling ‘54Mrs. Barbara Allen Grambow ‘56Richard Grambow ’55, GRMr. Neal D. Haber ‘75Ms. Suzanne Heller Haber ‘75Mrs. Constance C. Haggard ‘58Dr. Richard A. Haggard ’58, GR

it is easy to use YouTube and listen to the original piece first. Students have written apps that allow one to play a “Virtual Chime” on their computer and that help with the scheduling of concerts each semester. Email is used regularly to coordinate group activities and find substitutes when someone cannot play their regular concert. (It makes me feel so old to admit it, but when I tried out for the chimes, it was the first year that students were getting NetIDs, and we still used the telephone to communicate with other chimesmasters!)

Beyond these nuts-and-bolts details of daily operations in the tower, I have also watched shifts in the social dynamics of the group and in the program’s commitment to musical growth. Whereas twenty years ago I rarely saw my fellow chimesmas-ters outside of group dinners and judged concerts, the second floor office has evolved into an on-campus refuge for most of

the chimesmasters, and it is rare to enter the tower and not find another person in the office studying or writing an arrange-ment. There is often someone practicing chimes on the third floor (or piano on the rickety upright currently residing on the first floor.) The current chimesmasters are a tight-knit group, constantly getting together for games, meals, movies, duets. It’s been wonderful to watch this group grow and bond and welcome new members into its midst each year.

Meanwhile, through all we do, is a commitment on everyone’s part to produce the most beautiful music we can out of this most massive and awkward of instruments. During the 1998-1999 renovation, new bells were added, and new playing and practice stands were built. Through the support of alumni and friends of the chimes, we’ve been able to bring expert Chimes Advisor continued...

Alumni NotesIt has been a busy year for many of our chimes alumni, with lots of good news!

Lisa (Passmore) Beyers ‘10 (LRP) married Christopher Beyers ‘10, MPS ‘11, June 2012 in Midland, Michigan. She started medical school at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania this fall. Good luck Lisa! Hopefully if you can find the time you can come visit now that you’re closer to Ithaca.

Speaking of marriage, George Ubogy ‘58 wrote, “My marriage is surviving the ‘for better or for worse but not for lunch’ tran-sition (my retirement), and I have begun to play a 14-bell chime at a local church. My schedule is sporadic (Christmas, Hanuk-kah for the nearby synagogue), which is pleasant, because it’s good to not have to set the alarm clock on Sunday mornings. The bells go from the F below middle C to the C an octave above, with four dupli-cating pedals and with the two B-flats as the only sharps or flats. This makes for a lot of melody alterations or octave jumps, or else a very curtailed repertoire. My Christchurch chime makes the Cornell Chimes feel like a Steinway.”

In other bell news… “Cathy (Jordan) Longley-Cook ’03, ‘05, Scott Silverstein ‘08, Kathryn Barger GR, and I continue to have fun playing the 11-bell chime at the Unitarian church in West Newton, Massachusetts,” wrote Bob Feldman ’66, ’75. “Cathy and I each play about once a month at Sunday morning services. We also played three hour-long evening con-certs this past summer, where listeners sat outside on the lawn or folding chairs to listen. On Christmas Eve, Cathy and I played before and after the service. Our collection of music is growing, as Cathy and Scott continue to arrange singles and duets for our bells. (It takes two very friend-ly people to play duets on 11 bells.)”

The Boston-area chimes association may soon grow. Taras Czebiniak ’06 (TMC) reports, “I’m very happy to have recently moved to the South End of Boston to start the next phase of life, and I was admitted

to the Massachusetts state bar at the end of November. Before work starts in January I hope to catch up on cooking and also get-ting back to playing my grandfather’s vio-lin. I was fortunate to see Scott Silverstein ’08) at my housewarming party and I’m looking forward to some fun chime play-ing in Newton as well as catching up with the many other area alumni.” We were also pleased Taras could come back and enliven the campus during the Christmas week with a concert for his family.

Congratulations go out to Lauren (Marino) Casey ’02, Keith Jenkins ’93, and Allegra (Schafer) Marcell ’99 who all welcomed babies this year!

Dick Haggard ’58, ’65 and his wife Con-nie ‘58 wrote, “Right after attending the fall chimes council meeting, we, sailed off to the South Caribbean. On our walk through the colorful town of Willemstad on Curaçao, we heard bells from a tall Dutch steeple. Unfortunately we could not investigate further, but it was nice to hear them. No bells, however, after ar-riving home after Hurricane Sandy; what we found was our two 40-ft. spruce trees lying flat. No damage otherwise after a fine trip. Our next trip to campus and the tower is for our 55th in June!”

We were fortunate to welcome so many alumni back to campus in the past year. During Alumni Reunion Weekend, Irving Friedman ’37, Liz (Wallis) Grethen ‘02 and her family, Dick Haggard ’58, ‘65 and his wife Connie ‘58, Grace Jean ‘00, and Nancy (Lee) Sexton ’82, ‘87 all vis-ited the tower. Over the summer, Ryan Fan ’10 (RCF) back in the U.S. after two years in Egypt returned and played sev-eral concerts. Valerie Del Rosario ‘95 also visited. In September Mike Mage ’55 and Katie Hamren ‘11 (KT) both came back and played the bells. And in Oc-tober Siyi (Wang) Feng ’08 and her new husband paid a visit the same weekend we saw more than a dozen alumni return for the annual Chimes Advisory Council meeting.

Speaking of the Chimes Advisory Council, we wish to send a warn thanks to Daniel

musicians to Ithaca to provide master classes that have helped us all improve. Every year, we are able to send represen-tatives to the annual meeting of the Guild of Carillonneurs of North America where we make contacts and expand our under-standing of how to make fine music from our bells. The compets each year seem better than the last (making some of us old-timers wonder if we’d even be ac-cepted as chimesmasters were we to try out today!) And every year the level of musicianship seems to grow…

Or so I thought. Last night, all of the chimesmasters went out for dinner to plan for the semester ahead. We found our-selves seated next to a shelf of memorabil-ia, including an old black-and-white pic-ture of the tower and a copy of the 1930 Cornellian. Someone found the chimes page in the yearbook and passed the book around; here is what was written…

“Over sixty years have passed since the Cornell Chimes first became associated with the daily life of the University. During this time, progress has been made. New bells have been added, and improved methods of ringing have been made pos-sible by modern mechanical installations. A wider range has been developed, per-mitting a much larger choice of musical selections, and many new arrangements have been made. In a consistent effort to better its performance, the staff has ex-perimented continually, always trying to bring out of the bells the best that is in them. Noise is easy to produce; harmo-nious renditions demand understanding and practice.”

Sound familiar? And here I thought that we had made huge strides in the last twenty years, improving all our “bells and whistles” and committing ourselves to really making fine music. But isn’t that what Cornell’s chimesmasters have always done? We are not unique in the progress we have made the last two decades. As it turns out, we are simply continuing on with Cornell’s finest, longest musical tra-dition – “always trying to bring out of the bells the best that is in them.”

Finally, the editor, Marisa LaFalce is expecting her third child in March and although she’ll be out for a few months, we hope that you’ll continue to stay in touch with the Cornell Chimes. We encourage you to use the alumni email list, our Facebook page, and to send email to chimes@cornell.edu. Please let us know if you’re planning a visit to the tower!

Zlatin GR for his wonderful leadership as council co-chair. Chimes Advisory Council Co-Chairs serve for three to five years. Under Daniel’s leadership, the important groundwork for the un-restricted chimes program endowment was laid. We are grateful to Daniel for his kind service and we now welcome Frank Russell ‘58, ‘60 who will join Scott Silverstein ‘08 as fellow co-chair.

In other fall news, Bob Frankenfeld ’45 also visited campus. He wrote, “Our class had a unique mini-Reunion, October 22-25. It was well planned and geared to our senior years: two hour illustrated talk by the assistant curator of the great Hip-Hop Collection, a lecture by the author of a book which compiles the testimony of 1000 seniors re: the advice they pass on to younger generations (of course, we did half of the talking) and a great presentation lecture of the popular music of our youth and middle age,” wrote Bob. “We had 18 class-mates with five caregivers and hangers-on. I led the singing and I was shocked to learn that present students don’t sing, which might mean they don’t drink… I had a great chimes experience. Walking in the rain on the afternoon of the 23rd, I heard a concert of forgettable, bizarre, experimental? music – then a two-minute pause, then the “Alma Mater” followed by at least eight variations and possibly two duets. Do they play that every day? If those variations are on a disk please let me know.” Editors note: Regarding the “bizarre and experimen-tal music”, the playlist for the midday concert that day was “Michelle”, “New York, New York”, “Everything I Do, I Do For You”, “Cornell Alma Mater Variations 1 and 2”, and “Cornell Alma Mater Duets”. The variations were most recently fea-tured on the Cornell Chimes: Music From the Tower CD.

Oldest Living Chimesmaster Visits McGraw TowerMarisa LaFalce

Irving Friedman ’37 made a memorable trip back for his 75th reunion in June. One of the capstones of his weekend was a visit to McGraw Tower where he met the current chimesmas-ters. The chimes reunion was a happy and memorable event for all.

When Irv’s nephew originally contacted the chimesmasters in the fall of 2011, we hoped that Irv might actually climb the tower’s 161 steps. However, an accident several months be-fore Reunion made that impossible. Regardless, the chimes-masters created an intimate chimes experience, by playing a few tunes on the old practice stand, located is the first floor room, which is wheelchair accessible. Their pieces included “Ode To Joy,” his request, as well as several renditions of the “Alma Mater,” which brought tears of joy to most in the room. After the “private concert” was over, we went outside and enjoyed the melodies ringing from far above.

A full story about Irving Friedman and his visit for his 75th reunion, was featured in the September/October 2012 issue of Cornell Alumni Magazine: http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1447&Itemid=1&ed=31.

More than 75 years of Cornell Chimesmasters! Center Irv Friedman ‘37, from left, Erica Ho ‘13, Weijia Chen ‘14, Barrett Smith ‘14, Jenny Xia ‘13, and Jennifer Lory-Moran ‘96, ‘97. Photo by Marisa LaFalce.

Irv Friedman ‘37 signs his name next to his listing in the Chimes-master Appendix in The Cornell Chimes. For many years Jennifer Lory-Moran ‘96, ‘97 has brought her book to reunions and chimes events, seeking signatures from the chimesmasters she meets. Photo by Marisa LaFalce

Student Spotlight on Renee Setter ‘13Marisa LaFalce

As the fall semester drew to a close I had the opportunity to sit down with Renee Setter, a senior in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Business and International Studies.

Hi Renee, thanks for meeting with me. How did your semester go? It was okay. It was different being back after a semester abroad. It was relatively relaxing… I did not take too many credits.

So what does that mean for your last term? Will it be very dif-ficult?No, I’m enrolled in just 13 credits, so it is manageable. I am finishing up my International Studies minor and then taking some other fun classes that are interesting I think.

Like what?I’m taking a Communications class - New Media and Soci-ety. It’s about iPhones, iPads… and how they are impacting society.

What else, are you taking any French courses? How many languages have you studied? No, I just took French in preparation for studying abroad. I have taken a little Spanish, a little French, a little Chinese, but nothing has stuck very well as I haven’t had too many times to practice.

What are your graduation plans? Have you thought about graduate school or the job front yet? I think I will wait on graduate school because I’d like to get an MBA, which usually requires work experience. So I will be looking for a job, something with communication or business, something marketing oriented.

I guess that will be a big spring project?Yes exactly! That is why I am taking so few credits next se-mester. I will hopefully have the time to use the Career Center resources and figure it out.

We are very grateful that you are from Ithaca and have had the opportunity to play during the summers when you’ve been around – especially Reunion and Commencement. But you’ve also spent some time away from campus traveling. Tell us about your international experiences.Well in 2011, I was staying with my Aunt in Taiwan, for about a month. I was attending a Chinese language school for Eng-lish speakers. I was in Taipei the whole time; hanging out, eating lots of good food! Absorbing the culture.

Have you been there before?Yes, plenty of times because my mom is from there, but I’ve never spent an extended period like that.

Would you like to go back, say if you could get a work op-portunity?

It would probably be difficult to work there because I don’t know a lot of Chinese (they speak Mandarin there) but would it would be nice. Maybe not in the summer – it’s so hot!

Then you spent last spring semester in Paris?Yes. Last spring I was on a study abroad program taking busi-ness classes. We lived and went to school in the business sec-tion of Paris, called La Defense. I spent most of my time with other exchange students (as opposed to a lot of French people) but met a very nice group of people and am actually going to be visiting many of them over break.

Really, where are you going? I am leaving right after Christmas and travelling first to Lithu-ania, then to Rome, and finally to Paris, to meet up with a bunch of my friends from the program.

Where will you be for New Years? In Lithuania. I will be gone for a total of 3 weeks… returning right before classes.

You’ve got a lot of stamps on your passport then? In theory yes, although not as many because the EU doesn’t check anymore.

Asia, Europe, what else is out there for you? I’m not sure, we’ll see where I am at with jobs first.

For many Ithacans, especially if their family has an affiliation with the University, Cornell is a natural choice. What made

Chimesmaster Renee Setter ‘13 skates with a friend in front of the Hotel de Ville, Paris over winter break. Photographer unknown.

you choose Cornell?Yes that was my main factor… my father is a professor here so the tuition deals can’t be beat, and it is one of the better col-leges that I was accepted at.

But not everybody (from Ithaca) plays the bells, so how did you get connected to the Cornell Chimes?My dad always likes to take visitors to the tower, and so we had been up many times. I remember once the chimesmas-ter asking if I wanted to help play the hour bell and I always thought that would be really cool – it was amazing! So when I got to Cornell I checked into the possibility of playing them and ended up at the auditions.

To become a chimesmaster you need to balance on one foot, climb steps and read music… so reading music means some musical talents… what are yours?I began piano when I was five, and then began violin when I was in third grade.

Do you keep up with either of those instruments?Not so much… Jenny (Xia ’13) has gotten me to audition for the orchestra, so I am going to try that… in the spring. Peter (Im ’13) may audition as well. If that works out there would be four current chimesmasters in the Cornell Orchestra (including Keiran Cantilina ’14).

Talk to me about your chimes arrangements. I have arranged a couple of Disney songs, because Disney al-ways sounds good on the chimes…. And the Backstreet Boys and the “Imperial March” from Star Wars. Those are some of my better arrangements.

I am personally most grateful for your arrangement of “All You Need Is Love,” by the Beatles. I recall one summer we must have had a half-dozen brides and grooms request it for their wedding even though we didn’t have it in our files! I rhetorically put out a plea and you gratefully accepted the challenge!Thanks.

Have you written any original compositions?No… I’m not good at real composing, better at taking previ-ously written music and making it work on the chimes.

What pieces do you like to play?Disney, R.H. Lee of course, a few duets like The Ballet from the Petite Suite. Duets in general are fun because you’re not the only one up there.

And this Friday I understand you’ll be playing Christmas music for a specialty concert. Thanks! So, being a townie, does your family come up and make special requests often?Not too much. There are a couple of Taiwanese pieces my mom recognizes so she enjoys those. My brothers like to re-quest pieces they know are irritating or difficult to play (like Flight of the Bumblebee).

True little brothers!Of course!

What do you like to do in your free time?I work for Cornell Catering. That takes up a lot of time. It’s a lot of nights and weekends, and some times crazy early mornings.

Have you been working for them for a while?Yes, since before I got into Cornell. I am a student manager there, so it takes up a lot of my time.

So how do you like to relax?Well, I go to Yoga, and I like to sit and watch TV.

What kind of Yoga do you like to do?I do Ashtanga, it’s a routine one that you do every time. Not the crazy hot, but where you master one pose until you begin something new.

Where do you do that?I go to a studio down on Eddy Street that is very close to my apartment.

Anything else? What’s on tap for this week?Not too much. I’m ready for break. My family and I are headed to Boston for a few days right after I play the specialty Christmas concert.

Well thank you for meeting with me Renee. I hope you have a wonderful trip to Europe. Enjoy your break!

Welcome to our two newest chimesmasters Bryan Chong ‘13 (near) and Keiran Cantilina ‘15 (far). Photo by Erica Ho ‘13.

Chimesmasters Attend 70th Annual GCNA CongressBarrett Smith ‘14

This past June, I had the privilege to attend the Guild of Car-illonneurs of North America (GCNA) Congress in Clemson, South Carolina. I got up early Monday morning to fly down via Philadelphia, where I unwittingly ended up on the same plane as Jenny Xia ‘13 (JX). It was a pleasant surprise to find a familiar face in a huge airport. At Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, we met Erica Ho ‘13 (EH) and Claire Tse ‘12 (CT), who arrived together on a flight half an hour before Jenny and I, and together the four of us took a shuttle to Clemson University. Immediately upon arriving we heard the carillon, although, this being the first time I had heard a carillon, it seemed to be more of a distant music box than a set of 47 bells.

Several layers of sunscreen later, we made our way over to Tillman Hall, where the carillon lives. A large white tent was set up on the lawn with rows of chairs filling the inte-rior. A strange sight to be sure, we figured it could only be for GCNA. A few older bell enthusiasts sat listening intently in the front few rows, while a small group of college students sat in the back. We sat down in the back and started talk-ing to the students, who, it turned out, were from Yale. Our introductions got interrupted however by a more experienced member who, in a friendly manner, informed us that the listening tent was strictly for listening. Thinking back on it, I can only imagine the kind of confusion a similar setup would cause on Ho Plaza. Would any student take time out of his day to sit and listen?

Between business meetings, social events (pizza party, any-one?), a play (Billy the Bell, about a tiny bell who wants to find a home), lectures on a range of topics (from Marketing: Making Your Message Ring, to the carillon being played with other instruments), and, of course, many hours of carillon performances, we were kept comfortably busy by the sched-ule of the congress. Of all the different events however, I

think I learned the most by sitting and listening to the carillon. Listening intently for four days changed the way I think about bells as a musical instrument. The musicality of the perfor-mances left me wondering how I might perform similarly on the chimes, and critical listening to the overlapping harmon-ics and sounds of the bells left me considering how I might arrange songs more appropriately for the chimes.

Talking to the carillonneurs there was also quite illuminat-ing. We met Rick Watson and thanked him for our wonder-ful bells. We also had the chance to met, once more, Geert D’Hollander, who gave last year’s master class, and we enjoyed a dinner with Judy Ogden ‘71, ‘75, ‘77. It was fun to meet other college students who were equally as enthusiastic about bells. It was a relief not to have to explain what the chimes were to every new person we met, even if we still had to explain our playing mechanism.

On the second to last day of the congress, there was a time set aside for anyone to climb the tower and play the caril-lon. Erica and I climbed to the top to peer out the belfry and we decided to give it a try, since there was no one playing at the time. We had practiced the “Cornell Alma Mater Duet Variations 1 and 2” on a practice console they had set up downstairs, but it was still slightly terrifying to play for the whole campus to hear! I think we did it justice, although our playing was certainly not the same caliber as the other performers of the week.

While it was comforting to come back to the familiar Cornell Chimes, I had a great time learning about carillons in Clem-son, and I think I have joined the ranks of the bell enthusiasts whose ears light up every time a bell rings, whether from a carillon, or changes, or chimes. I would like to thank all who have given to the Cornell Chimes for making this experience possible - it was truly a wonderful week.

Chimesmasters reunite! Jenny Xia ‘13, Claire Tse ‘12, Judy Ogden ‘71, GR, Erica Ho ‘13 and Barrett Smith ‘14 together at GCNA. Photographer unknown.

Article author Barrett Smith ‘14 tries his hand at the Clemson Carillon. Photo by Erica Ho ‘13.

Chimesmaster’s CornerErica Ho ’13, Head Chimesmaster

This has been an extremely eventful and exciting year for the chimes! First, in Spring 2012, we undertook the ambitious Chimescan project, which involved scanning every single sheet of our sheet music library and linking the images up with our existing online database. Over a mere 18 days, six chimesmasters (Barrett Smith ’14, Erica Ho ’13, Keiran Cantilina ’15, Weijia Chen ’14, Bryan Chong ’13, and Jenny Xia ’13) scanned 1,913 sheets at 400 dpi, for a total of 1.6 GB of image files, and now we can ac-cess chimes sheet music from anywhere in the world! This incredible advancement would not have been possible without the expertise of Keith Jenkins ’93 and the coordina-tion by Kevin Giroux ’12. (We miss you, Kevin, Ivana Thng ’12, and Claire Tse ’12!) Around the same time, Keiran found an old upright piano being given away for free on Craigslist. Excited by the pros-pect of having a piano in the tower, the chimesmasters all mobilized to help transport it (Barrett even rented a U-Haul truck) to its new home in the first floor room. Keiran spent the summer months making various repairs on the piano to prepare it for a professional tuning. Since its arrival, the piano has been a much cherished part of the tower, and it is not uncommon to hear the sound of piano and chimes practicing going on at the same time. Summer is usually a quiet time for the chimes, but not in 2012! We had a record five student chimesmasters on cam-pus: Erica (I got a very helpful jump start on Head Chimes-master work), Jenny Xia (who shared Summer Chimesmaster duties with me, as our specialty concerts coordinator, and also took on the Librarian position), Weijia Chen, and, notably, both of our two newest chimesmasters, Keiran Cantilina and Bryan Chong. Our increased staffing allowed us to play at least one concert a day for the whole summer, 11 specialty concerts (with help from Gretchen Ryan ’97), and to host multiple open houses for Commencement and Reunion (with help from Barrett Smith, who popped back to the tower just for that weekend!).

Another big part of the summer was the Cornell Chimes Summer Sunday Sunset Series (C2S4); for ten consecutive Sundays, we played half-hour-long themed concerts, and then allowed visitors to enjoy the sunset from the belfry for another half-hour. Concert themes included Americana

(for July 4th), Richard H. Lee ’41 compositions, and J. S. Bach. My personal favorite was the Keith Jenkins ’93 (KGJ) compositions-themed concert, which featured Keith himself as well as Chimes Advisor Jennifer Lory-Moran ’96, ’97. The concert included the premiere of some new pieces! In late June, a few of us attended the 2012 Congress of The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA). See Bar-rett Smith’s article (at left) for the full account! When fall semester began, we welcomed back Renee Setter ’13 and Peter Im ’13. Both had been studying off campus for a semester and a year respectively. They jumped right back into chimes work: Renee took on the crucial task of updating the information sheets we use when we lead tours of the tower, and Peter alone led 10 of the 23 tours this past fall, the most tours by far out of all of us! Our two newest chimesmasters have dedicated so much time and energy to the chimes that I’ve forgotten that they’re only in their first year here! Bryan Chong led the effort to fi-nally design and order Cornell Chimes hoodies, and he also commissioned a hand-made plushie tower that now resides in the tower office. Keiran Cantilina has shouldered the im-mense responsibility of coordinating the chimes road trip to the Boston area, where we will be visiting at least three bell towers and meeting with chimes alumni. (Look for a full ac-count in the next newsletter). Our resident computer science genius Weijia Chen has cre-ated the Cornell Virtual Chimes (CVC), a program that uses sound samples of the bells (taken by Keiran Cantilina) to simulate the chimes. When the program is executed, a photo

Industrious chimesmasters move a piano, found free on Craigslist across the Arts Quad towards McGraw Tower. The addition of the piano will help with writing arrangements. Photo by Erica Ho ‘13.

Congratulations to our May 2012 graduates Kevin Giroux, Ivana Thng, and

Claire Tse. We miss you!

Chimesmaster’s Corner continued...of the playing stand appears. Users can then “play” the chimes—either by clicking on the associated levers or pedals in the picture, or by pressing certain keys on the computer keyboard. This means that, yes, four-note chords are possi-ble at last! A recent update to CVC includes a “Rag Mode,” a mini-game that scores users’ performance of the “Cornell Changes” with regard to accuracy of notes and rhythm.

In another technological advancement, Barrett Smith wrote, and is improving, a program that generates potential concert schedules based on everyone’s availabilities and preferences; he has even created a mobile phone version. For both Fall 2012 and Spring 2013, however, we’ve still gone with sched-ules that I produced manually, so humans win against the machine! For now. Our next big event is the 2013 Chimes Competition. Every-one’s excited—especially me! Being in a position to run the competition has particular significance to me, because of my atypical experiences as a compet. I auditioned to be a

chimesmaster for the first time in my freshman year. When I didn’t make it after ten weeks, it felt like the most crushing defeat of my life. I had really come to love this quirky instru-ment, and now it had been taken away from me. Yet despite my distress and disappointment I was still convinced that playing the chimes was the best part of my Cornell experi-ence—I could not give it up so easily. So I came back.

Stay connected with Cornell Chimes alumni and friends throughout the year...

Join the chimes alumni email list-serve! A list-serve is simply a collection of addresses that receive an email when sent to just one address. If you are interested in sub-scribing, your email address has changed, or you would like more information about this list, email chimes@cor-nell.edu.

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“Truly, this is a great time to be a Cornell Chimesmaster.”

Having gone through the competition twice, I know all too well how trying and overwhelming those ten weeks can be, and I aim to be as sensitive to compet concerns as possible. One idea that we’ve talked about is presenting a Certificate of Completion to all compets after their last judged concert in the second round of the competition, to acknowledge their perseverance and achievements over ten long weeks. Teach-ing yourself how to play the Cornell Chimes is an immense accomplishment, and I think it would be great to recognize it in a tangible manner. Another point of discussion has been creating additional requirements during the first round for returning compets who had previously passed the silent audi-tions, to make the first round more engaging. Because of the boundless enthusiasm and camaraderie of this current group of chimesmasters, I have high hopes for this year’s competition, and I am confident that the next genera-tion of chimesmasters will be absolutely fantastic. Although my time on the Hill is now more limited than ever, I know I’ll be able to look back fondly on all of our accomplishments this year. Truly, this is a great time to be a Cornell Chimes-master.

Erica Ho (EH) is a senior studying Psychology, with minors in Cognitive Science and Music. When she’s not working as Head Chimesmaster, she sits alone in a little windowless room on the ground floor of Uris Hall (also known as being an honors thesis student). She is also the co-manager of the electroencephalography (EEG) lab within the Personality, Attachment, and Control Lab. She plans to devote one or two years to research before applying to graduate school to study Clinical Neuropsychology or Social/Affective Neuroscience.We were grateful that Weijia Chen ‘14, Keiran Cantilina ‘15, Bryan

Chong ‘13, Jennie Xia ‘13, and Head Chimesmater Erica Ho ‘13 were on campus last summer, to not only host tours and play regular con-certs, but also to perform the Cornell Chimes Summer Sunday Sunset Series each week. Photographer unknown.

are the university’s oldest musical tradition, ringing out across campus and the Ithaca community since the university’s opening ceremonies in 1868. Student chimesmasters perform three concerts daily during the academic year, in addition to specialty concerts. Visitors are encouraged to climb McGraw Tower’s 161 steps during concerts to see this unique instrument in action, and to enjoy the panoramic view.

The Cornell Chimesmasters’ music library contains more than 2500 pieces that are almost entirely arranged by current and former chimesmasters. Their repertoire includes university songs, original compositions, world music, national anthems, and music ranging from classical to contemporary. The program on this compact disk was created to highlight the diverse range and musical offerings of the Cornell Chimes.

The Cornell Chimes

New from The Cornell Chimesmasters!

Music from the Tower, is the latest recording in the Cornell Chimes music collection. This 23-song compact disk is grouped into five categories: Cornell Songs, Original Compositions, World, Classical, and Popular Music.

The CD program was compiled to highlight the diverse array of music that rings daily from McGraw Tower and to showcase the chimesmasters’ incredible musical talents.

This CD is available exclusively at the Cornell Store. Learn more at chimes.cornell.edu/merchandise.html.

Dates to Remember

February 3-April 21Annual chimesmaster competition.

March 16-24Spring Break; concerts infrequent as most chimesmasters away from campus.

May 4Classes end, study period schedule begins.

May 24-26Commencement weekend. Concerts, open house and senior recital.

May 27Summer schedule begins - concerts infrequent.

June 6-8Cornell Alumni Reunion Weekend - many concerts to be performed. Alumni chimesmasters are encouraged to come back and play!

August 28Classes begin, regular concerts resume.

B07 Day HallIthaca, New York 14853-2801